Blog Posts

A recent American Banker article entitled “Is Regulation the Stumbling Block to Reaching Underbanked?” asked the right question. Unfortunately, the answer as presented was not as right. The article described a U.S. Treasury Department forum to help the banking industry accelerate financial inclusion. Financial inclusion is a term describing the unbanked or underserved consumers’ need for access to basic financial support.

These days, blockchain is a blockbuster at banks. Financial institutions are spending time and resources to find out how much business they can gain by adopting this new technology. This hype on the bank side might not correspond to similar interest from corporations. Nor it is clear whether it creates similar business opportunities for either side. My ongoing research investigates how large the (usual) gap is between banks and their corporate clients, assessing to what degree blockchain technology is part of corporate practitioners’ domain expertise. It looks like, however, banks and corporations are not the only ones involved.

As we approach the final weeks of the year, the Aite Group team took a look back on the big events in retail banking and payments in 2015. What a year it was! Here’s a roundup of some of the notable events, all of which have the potential for long-term ripple effects.